Did Mrunal Thakur want to stay away from Telugu movies? (Photo Credit – Instagram)
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Mrunal Thakur is highly appreciated and loved for her performances in films like Sita Ramam, starring Dulquer Salman as Sita, aka Princess Noor Jahan, and Yashna from Hi Nanna, starring Nani.
Sita Ramam was a major commercial success, grossing ₹100 crores at the box office and becoming the ninth highest-grossing Telugu film of 2022, making it a hit. The 2023 Telugu film Hi Nanna grossed over ₹74 crore worldwide. While Telugu audiences have accepted her and would love to see her in more films, there was a time when the actress did not want to star in Telugu films.
In a throwback interview with Galatta Plus, Mrunal revealed she spoke to her Sita Ramam co-star Dulquer Salman about not wanting to appear in Telugu films due to this reason.
Mrunal who hails from Maharashtra initially started with the Marathi film Vitti Dandu in 2014 and made her Hindi debut in the 2018 film Love Sonia.
Mrunal who was completely new to the Telugu language and industry revealed not knowing the language made her feel ‘handicapped’. She revealed that she chose to dub herself to understand the nuances, but she had a hard time lip-syncing in the language.
She said “I didn’t want to be in a space where I felt handicapped because I didn’t know the language. It made me restless, and I kid you not, I had moments when I wanted to give up. I have cried but every drop of tear has brought praise my way,”.
She further went on to appreciate her Sita Ramam co-star Dulquer Salman who originally hails from the Malayalam film industry but has made his way into South Indian cinema and Bollywood.
He debuted in Telugu with Nag Ashwin’s Mahanati then went to learn the language and dub for himself in Sita Ramam.
She said “I remember we were shooting in Kashmir and I told him Sita Ramam will be my first and last Telugu film. I won’t do any more films in Telugu, I said. He just looked at me and said, we’ll see. I think today, one of the reasons I am considering branching out into Tamil or Kannada also is because he gave me the confidence to.”
Mrunal who envisioned never wanting to work in Telugu cinema is now backing back-to-back roles in this industry.
Mrunal’s upcoming films
Mrunal Thakur will be seen in a Hindi-language action comedy film Son of Sardaar 2 which is a sequel to the 2012 film Son of Sardaar. The film stars Ajay Devgn and Sanjay Dutt. Her next Telugu project includes Dacoit: A Love Story which is an action drama film directed by Shaneil Deo, in his directorial debut.
The film is being shot simultaneously in Telugu and Hindi. It stars Adivi Sesh, Mrunal Thakur, and Anurag Kashyap (his Telugu film debut) in lead roles.
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